Above 12,500 feet in the Andes mountains lies the páramo, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth and sadly, one of the most threatened. Colombia is home to over half the world’s páramos, which act as a water catch net and are the primary freshwater source for millions including residents of Bogotá and Medellín. Climate change-induced warmer temperatures, deforestation, encroaching agriculture, mining, and wildfires all threaten this ecosystem, but a diverse group of communities in Colombia are taking action to protect it. As a Colombian American, I feel this overlooked story of protection and hope urgently needs to be told.
The páramos and their uniquely adapted plants not only absorb glacial melt but capture water from the clouds and slowly release it into streams and aquifers below. University of the Andes Bogota professor Santiago Madriñán and co-author of a recent study about the vulnerability of the páramo says, “There is no time or space to adapt to present trends of rising temperatures for many of the páramo plant species, including the Espeletias,” a key plant species otherwise known as frailejones or big friars, nicknamed for their semblance to tall men in brown robes. The páramos are not only home to a variety of plant life, but also dozens of endemic and threatened animals such as the Andean condor and the anteojos bear.
The Arhuaco indigenous community in Colombia believes the Andes are like the human body. The snow-capped peaks represent the head, the flowing glaciers and rivers are the veins and the páramo is the heart or corazón. The heart is the lifeblood of the human body. It gives strength and vitality to everything around it, just like the páramo it pumps a vital resource throughout. Without it, the entire ecosystem and everything connected to it does not function.
My Colombian American identity provides an opportunity to understand and share both cultures. As someone with a dual identity, I feel I can be a bridge between two cultures and that I have a duty to be an ambassador of both.
As a Colombian American who works between Colombia and the US, whose immediate family lives in Colombia, who has spent significant time in Colombia, someone who knows the páramos ecological and cultural significance firsthand, and whose family and friends depend on the páramos for their livelihood I believe I am the right photographer to document this story.
I will use my skills as a documentary photographer and the experience I have gained during my years in photojournalism and adventure photography to create a coherent collection of images that capture the Colombian páramo in the present moment. The final product will be a long-form visual narrative that shares the importance of the páramo as a crucial water source, the importance of its flora and fauna, and the diverse groups working to protect it.
While this critical watershed provides freshwater to over 10 million people living in Bogotá and Medellín, protecting the Colombian páramo has an even broader impact. Páramos across the Andes provide drinking water to an estimated 40 million people and are home to 5,000 species—3,000 of which live nowhere else on Earth.
The páramos of Latin America rarely garner large amounts of coverage, especially internationally, compared to connected ecosystems like glaciers. Publishing this solutions-oriented story will have an immense impact by filling a void in international coverage, and inspiring people beyond Colombia to care about the páramos.
LEARN MORE & SUPPORT
• Please contact Sofía directly if you are interested in sharing this story.
CENTER is a 501(c)3 organization. Donations may qualify as a charitable deduction for federal income tax purposes.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
© Shannon Corsi
Sofía Jaramillo is a Colombian-American filmmaker and National Geographic photographer based in Jackson, Wyoming.
Jaramillo’s work focuses on uplifting and telling the stories of BIPOC in outdoor spaces. Her mission is to tell the stories she wished she’d seen as a kid. Jaramillo got her start in photography working for media outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian and the Associated Press. She strongly believes in the power of storytelling and now works as a Director and Executive Producer in filmmaking. She helped shoot the first adventure ski film to feature women of color and adaptive athletes called The Approach, was a Story Producer and Cinematographer on OutWest film and an Executive Producer for the Soñadora film.
sofiajphoto@gmail.com • www.sofiajaramillophoto.com
As the capital of the Department of Caldas, Manizales is in the heart of Colombia’s coffee-growing region, a bustling city of some 430,000 people that’s surrounded by steep farms, thick jungle and an increasingly well-known trail system.
rainwater and ice-melt in the soil, releasing it slowly and steadily throughout both wet and dry seasons, and making the páramo a vast reservoir that provides water for millions of Colombians—over 70 percent of the country’s population.
Park.
Nevados National Park.
“See, here is one,” he says, holding up a cherry with a rotted-out bean, and picks out a little black speck. This information helps Hacienda Venecia decide where and when to fumigate with pesticides, the method most commonly used by conventional farmers to control the coffee berry borer.
spectrum of color at Finca Portugal, a coffee farm outside of Manizales. Historically, coffee farmers in Colombia harvest their crop twice a year, but erratic rain patterns have forced some to harvest through the entire year, picking berries as they ripen—meaning a single plant may have a mix of both green and red berries.
actually belong to the same family as
sunflowers and daisies, and many sport yellow, red or white flowers for much of the summer. They also grow exclusively in Andean páramos, creating an otherworldly alpine landscape for Lucas (left) and Alex (right).
mountain bikers explores how climate change is impacting one of the world’s most
cherished beverages and the lives of those who depend upon it.
spectrum of color at Finca Portugal, a coffee farm outside of Manizales. Historically, coffee farmers in Colombia harvest their crop twice a year, but erratic rain patterns have forced some to harvest through the entire year, picking berries as they ripen—meaning a single plant may have a mix of both green and red berries.
